Popular restaurants such as Oleai Beach Bar & Grill in Oleai, Grillin\u2019 in Garapan, and Fork & Chopsticks on Middle Road are turning belly up one by one, in large part due to the tanking economy.<\/p>\n
Considered one of the\u2014if not the\u2014most popular bars\/restaurants by the beach on Saipan, Oleai Beach Bar & Grill closed its operations on Nov. 1 after several years in operation. It was a favorite spot among residents and tourists because of its relaxing beachside location, great sunset view, $1 tacos, great food, and friendly atmosphere.<\/p>\n
Tamara Hunter, its former manager, said yesterday that there were several factors behind the closure, \u201cmainly the increase in costs to run the business and the monthly rent, power, salaries, etc.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hunter said that prior to the spot being named Oleai Beach Bar & Grill in the early \u201990s, it also hosted the former Rudolpho\u2019s Bar before it moved to different locations.<\/p>\n
Oleai Beach Bar & Grill\u2019s owners are trying to look for new investors to take over the bar\u2019s operations. For serious inquiries, contact Hunter at 234-8320.<\/p>\n
A regular patron said that Oleai Beach Bar & Grill is the \u201conly\u201d authentic bar and restaurant by the beach that\u2019s not part of a hotel establishment. <\/p>\n
\u201cI would miss sitting out there, enjoying the beach, enjoying the food and drinks while watching the sunset. Nothing comes close,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Grillin\u2019, once a popular party place and restaurant, also shut down its operations at Saipan Ocean View Hotel in Garapan early this month.<\/p>\n
Doll Loste, co-owner of the restaurant, said the bad economy and the high cost of operations, including utilities, processing of employees\u2019 work papers, maintenance and other goods and services led to the restaurant\u2019s closure.<\/p>\n
Loste said that looking back, Grillin\u2019 at least found a niche as it became a popular spot for birthday parties and other receptions, mostly among the members of the Filipino community. The same spot used to host another restaurant, Pierre\u2019s.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe found a niche, but even then, it\u2019s not good enough to cover all the expenses,\u201d said Loste.<\/p>\n
Fork & Chopsticks, located beside New XO Market on Middle Road, gained popularity for its cheap and sizeable food servings but just like the others, it also closed shop because operational costs couldn\u2019t catch up with revenues.<\/p>\n
\u201cExpenses were too much,\u201d said one of its former employees. But she said a new businessman may take over the restaurant and open soon.<\/p>\n
Even international food chains such as Wendy\u2019s and Jollibee were not spared from the CNMI\u2019s economic crisis in recent years. <\/p>\n
The CNMI economy has shrunk to its lowest level, caused mainly by the pullout of the garment industry, a struggling tourism industry, and uncertainties brought by changes in the immigration system. Even the government\u2019s budget for fiscal year 2012 of $102 million is down to the level it was more than 20 years ago.<\/p>\n
But while many businesses are closing up, other small businesses are also opening up.<\/p>\n
Wayne Pangelinan, who just opened a barbecue stand on Monday, said he sees opportunity even during tough times. He opened \u201cCharcoal\u201d in Chalan Piao.<\/p>\n
\u201cOpening a business in a down economy boils down to marketing it\u2026Plus I don\u2019t think there\u2019s a barbecue stand in this part of the island,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Popular restaurants such as Oleai Beach Bar & Grill in Oleai, Grillin\u2019 in Garapan, and Fork & Chopsticks on Middle Road are turning belly up one by one, in large part due to the tanking economy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-157033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157033\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}